Microsoft 365 / remove license / keep regular mail address

Question

Hello,

we have two users who are each assigned a Microsoft 365 Business Basic license.

Can I safely remove the licenses from the two users and keep the email addresses,
(without converting them to shared mailboxes)?

The users are and remain in the company, but only need their own valid email address,
so no Office / no App.

This (german) article, the closest answer I found on MS didn't give me the information I needed:

https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/microsoft-365/admin/manage/remove-licenses-from-users?view=o365-worldwide

Thanks a lot!

ChrisHap

Answer 1

Hi Chris,

If you remove the licenses from those users, their users will remain, but all services will be disabled. Since they won't have an Exchange Online license assigned to them, they won't be able to exchange mails - they won't have a mailbox anymore. And finally after the 30-day grace period, all relevant data will be deleted.

In a nutshell, if you want your users to be able to have active email accounts, you shouldn't unassign their licenses, unless you have and are planning to assign a separate Exchange Online license or anything.

Regards,
Burak V.

Answer 2

I think this article could answer your questions clearly: No soft-deleted mailbox after license removal in Office 365

This article is also talking about this one: Overview of inactive mailboxes

Here is a detailed tutorial on how to remove a former employee, I think it also will be useful to you.